Team Sandstorm
by G San
Summary: A tale of zoids, legacies,and some good old fashioned heavy weapons. Based on Origional Characters. CHAPTER 4 IS UP!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everybody. This is my first fic, so please Read and Reveiw and give me feedback. (Even flames accepted!) I will also endeavour to keep typos under control, as this thing has no real spell check engine, but you've been warned. Finally, the disclaimer: I do not own zoids, although I do own almost every character who shows up in this fic, i.e. Garrett, Jenny, and Edgar, as well as a few other unnamed characters. And I call Saber Tigers Zaber Fangs, so sue me. Ready? Good, because here we go.**

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Hey, My name's Garrett Hart. This is my Journal. Now, some people may have just picked this up to hear the story of the explots of one team sandstorm, a egitistical rant on how I knew that fate would throw me a chance at fame and glory (I didin't). Some may be here to see if the tabloid stories are true. (They aren't. I assure you. I am not an alien robot sent to conquer Zi, and me and Jenny never, NEVER did anything like that. Ever.) If you waat the nothing-to-glory story of team sandstorm, the ZBC puts on coverage of our, and other team's histories every couple of months. If you want to listen to what REALLY happened, how we got to where we are today, not some force-fed and scripted talk show host speculating, well, read on, and discover the team from the perspective of this little journal.

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I stood over the grassy knoll of the cemetary, looking down at the three graves of my family. Mom was farthest on the left, she had died when I was little. I felt the cool steel of the necklace she always used to wear pressing lightly on my chest. Dad rested next to her, or would have been if they had ever found the body- He was a pilot on the ZBC enforcement company- his whale king had exploded in midair for "Mysterious Reasons", taking out half of the company with it, includin dad and his beautiful Storm Sworder. I shook my head slightly, and looked down at the final grave, that of my Grandpa. When dad had died those long eight years ago, Grandpa had been all that I had left.

Those eight where some of the best of my life, even if I had to move out here to Belaqua Town, a middle of nowhere asemblage of houses with a population just under eight hundred. I never knew why Grandpa had moved out here, we where very well off, he had been a grand champion in the early Zoid Battles, with his origional Blue Saix, "Blue Ligtning." I turned, and breathed in, my tears had long dried. Grandpa had died a few hours earlier, and had left me an evelope- I figured it was about time to go open it.

Now, don't get me wrong. This isn't some sobbing, self-pity, depressed story. Yeah, I've had some sad times, but you'll see- I've been keeping this little journal of mine for a while now.Let's get back to the story, it picks up soon enough.

The walk though town was quiet- You don't get a lot of noise in this kind of community. The sun was setting, and the streetlights winked on as I walked my way to the driveway of "The Mansion" as we always called it. It was hardly a mansion, but in Belaqua, even a large two story looked like a mansion. But what really defined the place was the hangar attached on the property behind it- Where grandpa kept his old zoids. I had actually driven one of the three he had on multiple occasions, an old Helcat that could barely reach 70 mph. Seriously, the thing had been beaten to a battered hull, but it was an incredible feeling being behind the controls of even one of the smallest zoids.

I unlcoked the door, and stepped into the now-quiet house. Into the kitchen... ah, there it was. I had dropped it on the kitchen table. I picked it up again, and felt something slide around on the inside. That's odd, I hadn't noticed that before. I rolled my neck and wen't into teh living room. I had left the TV on too, apparently. The anchor was gesturing immportantly- I guess a sandstorm was rolling in. A big one. We sometimes got thsoe out here...

I turned the TV off, and grabbed a letter opener. A few minutes later, a couple things spilled out of the invelope. A letter, a CD bearing the ZBC logo, a couple hundred credits.. and a zoid remote. I picked it up- it was cool to the touch, all black with the assorted buttons, as well as an insignia in silver- The sword of the old Guygalos Empire! I sat, stunned. Why would Grandpa have the remote for a zoid from the Empire...? Shaking these thoughts, and the thousands of questions that came with them from my mind, I picked up the letter. After a few minutes of deciphering (Grandpa's handwriting was notoriously unreadable, and I had inherited it), I sat back and read the letter aloud.

"Dear Garrett- If you're reading this, than I have passed on before I could fully train you." I Groaned. "Fully Trained" me? I had sat in his old simulator for hours on end, and listened to him twice as long. I knew anything about zoids that he could have taught me. I continued. "Right now I'm sure you're groaning right now about knowing anything about zoids that I could teach you- and that's just it, Garrett. I can't teach you experience. Enclosed is a ZBC registration disc, go to Crane City, and go to the garage there. There is a ZBC registration terminal, show them that CD, answer their questions, and you're in." ZBC? But I don't Have a zoid! "The ZBC recquires, obviously, for all pilots to have a zoid. That leads me to the other objects in this envelope- The Credits and the remote. The Credits should keep you in a small appartment in Carne City untill you get into the ZBC. And then, there's the remote.I'm sure you've looked at it, and yes that _is_ the sword insignia of the Guygalos Empire's Elite Forces. It goes with the zoid in hangar 4- The hangar I always told you was empty. I apologize for lying- but that zoid is... well, it's like a coming of age gift. _MY_ grandfather, Maxamillian Hart, piloted that same zoid against the Helic Republic. It has been passed down through the family, although your father was always a fan of Airborne Zoids and although he DID pilot it for a few years before joining the Enforcement Companies, he instead prepared the zoid for you. It is my only will and testament that you pilot that zoid in the ZBC. Garrett, carry the Hart name with pride. It's always served us well. I know you can be incredible and do incredible things. Heck, I trained you, didn't I? - Your Grandfather, Jacob Hart."

I sat back, the wind sincerely knocked out of me. I was in the ZBC! And, more importantly, I HAD A ZOID! I sat in silence for a minute, until the rising winds reminded me a sandstorm was coming. I stood up, almost tripped over the coffee table, and then was out the door. I was all but running to the hangar doors seconds later in the sunset. I pulled out my cardkey and swiped it in the old and beaten card reader. The system took what felt like minutes, and finally beeped. The heavy and old garage door lifted slowly, and what I beheld as it lifted fully is still set foremost in my mind. As the door reached it's top, the winds around me seemed to... stop. Inside the hangar was a Midnight-Blue chrome tiger type zoid the like of wich I had never seen. At first I thought it was a Zaber Fang (Authors note: As mentioned above, I know Saber Tigers as Zaber Fangs) but the head design shattered this illusion. While the body was similar to a Zaber Fang's, the head was something that would give veterans nightmares. It was vey cat like, save for two fangs stretching at least half teh length of the head- This zoid was a Proto Zaber.

I'll save you several minutes of just staring at this thing, and then my "INCREDIBLE LOOKING ZOID" dance. After several minutes of dancing, and the sun setting, I stood in the lights of the hangar, and pulled out the remote. A press of the button, and the zoid became alive. It's eyes flashed alive, a brilliant green. It shook slightly, and a slight rain of dust came from it. Then it yawned. I presed my remote again,and it kneeled, popping open it's cockpit. I was isnide in seconds, and was stunned at wat an array of features this thing had. I closed the cokpit and sat abck in the command chair. It was hardly perfect, but it had a leather seat taht took away from how ramrod staight the chair actually was. I then turned my attention to the sheer wave of displays around the controls. A 3-D radar blinked to life next to me. The radio was playing static, so I turned it off. The Commn screen was silent, obviously. The warbook and map screens where showing me specs on my Zaber and that I was sitting on the outskirts of Belaqua city, respectively. And then I noticed the messages screen, with it's little flashing red light saying that I had one new message. Curious, I punched "play" and the Commn Screen suddenly was playing the face of my dad. His image smiled and started talking.

"Hey Garrett. If you're playing this, you're in the cockpit of four generations, and as mean a piece of a war machine as I've seen. I'm on call again, but I wanted to leave you a message. I never piloted this baby in the ZBC because I'm PART of the ZBC. I tell you, it was hard trying to decide between keeping that job and driving this baby once again- But I love flying. This is YOUR zoid son. Go, and become great. I know your mother would be proud. Hanging on that dial to the right of your head is the neckalce I wore in the days that I was a pilot in the battles, and the old headband is that red band wrapped o the targeting joystick. I leave those to you, a little momento of when your old man was your age, huh?. Go with pride, son. No matter waht path you take, you will always be my son, and I love you." with that, the screen clicked black. I sat back, and unhooked the necklace. It was a broadsword, it's blade pure blue. I clipped it on with mom's cross. I untied the headband, a brilliant, bright red, and tied it over my forehead. I realized then that I had nothing to tie me down to this town. I crouched the Zaber one more time, hopped out of the cockpit and walked into the house.

Half an hour later, I was watching the dunes fly by. My duffel bag carrying every credit I had, a couple of my extra clothes, and a botle of water sat behind me. The Zaber handled like a dream. It's paws didn't sink in the sand, and it's internal lighting was jsut as good as the sun. I had it on autopilot, and I was flipping through the specs on the in system warbook. While it was old and mostly out of date, it was incredibly detailed on the older systems. I was in the cockpit of a MGX-775 Proto Zaber, a zoid that almost completely ripped the Republic appart. It had the potential for any number of weapons systems, as it was also CAS capable, although no CAS models had been designed for it- The Zaber's mass production had been stopped many years ago due to excessive production prices- so you either had to order one specially, or leave it up t chance that your Zaber Fang would evolve, a one-in-a-thousand chance. My Zaber... Wait, let me savor beeing able to say "MY" zaber... ahem My zaber wa eqquipped with almost no weapons, save for the low-placed 3-barrel chest cannon. Apparently, Most Protos had a back mounted cannon, but my Grandpa removed it when he was a pilot, before he opted for a saix for speed.

I would swear that the Zaber was purring as we charged along the sands, and it made sense why- It had remained upkept but unpiloted for decades. I stroked the dashboard and looked up at the camera feed of the night sky. I relaxeed and reclined the command chair, and turned down the lighting. The stars from Zi are specatcular, especially out in the desert. The rythmic movement of the zoid around me was abbout to put me to sleep, when the radar let out a little "beep!" I looked up, and saw a little red blip on the radar. I sat up and turned the lights back on. It was just a blip, probably jsut another pilot out enjoying the desert night. I ran it through the warbook, and was surprised to read that the old database had something. The screen came alive, and it gave me a readout on a guysack. The scorpion zoid was moving full out, and from the readout... It was coming right at me. I tried opening a comm channel, but whoever it was in the guysack blew me off. Then the radar beeped again. And again. And then it went Flipping crazy, bleeping as more and more red dots appeared, until my radar scope was showing at least 35 dots in all directions, all rushing in towards the center... me. And then they where on top of me. twenty or more dull brown mechanized scorpions, surrounding me and targeting their tail-bound lasers at my beautiful, new Proto Zaber. And I knew i was in deep trouble. I reccognized their movements now, no wonder I wasn't signaled by the other pilot. There was none- these where field zoids.

The one directly in front of me aimed and fired, and all those years in the simulator, all those thousands of hours spent listening to grandpa's stories, they just took over. I doged to the left, and the laser punched deep into the guysack behind me. The zoid writhed as if shot through a vital organ and keeled over. Yup, definately field zoids. As their comrade shut down, the Guysacks stopped, and the air became a mess of laser blasts and their wierd, insectile cries. I just puncehed the acceleator, ignoring the sounds of impact. One tried to gut me with it's claws, I jumped over them and sunk my zoid's fangs deep into it's chest. I jumped again as another tried to spear me with it's tail, I slashed it with the zaber's claws and knocked it away and into two more. And yet they came.

Fifteen minutes later, my damage readout says that I've got 25 damage, mostly to the torso and legs, and the radar tells me that these guys just called their buddies. I looked up from where I was evicerating another guysack to where the next wave was coming. I looked down at my readouts. My Zaber could take a beating, but this endless melee stuff could wear down the Deathsaurer itself. I whipped around as a guysack tried to stand, and blasted it's head with my cannon. The second wave broke over the hill and I turned to face the brown scorpion tide. I opened up with the cannon, clipping a couple legs but missing overall. "Note to self, practice shooting if I live through this." My zoid roared at the oncoming tide. "That's right buddy, We're not going out without a fight." I said more to myself than my zoid. HE was ready... I charged forward, surrounding myself with the viscious insects. My mind became a whirlwind of doging, slashing and biting. Guysacks and their parts flew this way and that, but i knew it was a losing battle. My damage was in the 65 range, and rising. But we fought on, and i could have sworn I heard a voice in the back of my head..._ You gotta be kidding me. We're not dying out here, not after I just got back out..._

I felt a thunk, and my external camera was telling me that I had a guysack on my back. It raised it's tail, and the entire zoid shook unter it's spike gouging a hole in my Zaber's back. My Zoid howled in agony, and warning lights flashed all over my vision. The Guysack prepared it's final blow. And then I heard it. Two short, consise bleeps on my radar. And then, like some sort of chorus, I heard a heavy chaingun blasting. My external camera played the guysack being shot to pieces, and ahead of me Guysacks where turning to face their new attackers. Suddenly, a beaten up old Desert Liger bashed forward, sending Guysack parts flying, and sending as hockwve that slit the massed zoids into confusion. I saw a scout fox strafing the outside of the guysack group, it's chain gun sending hundreds of rounds into the paper-thin armor of the scorpion zoids. My comm screen blinked alive, and I was looking at a man, probably somewhere in his early thirties, with blood red hair and a pair of aviator sunglasses. Heavy metal was pumping through his cockpit, and he threw me a thumbs up as a gitaur riff beagn, jarring my brain over the comm channel.

"You ok in there,pal?" he asked. I checked my display, and my zoid roared and nodded at his, and the battered liger returned the traditional zoid salute. "I'm fine, but let's mop up the bugs before we talk. Nice shooting by the way, we owe you one." He laughed. "Don't thank me, I'm in the liger. Hey sis, this guy owes you one." A second face popped up, a girl, right around my age, with her brother's vibrant hair color, and big green eyes. She winked at me. "You're welcome." I felt my cheeks flush. Her scout fox jumped up over a guysack body and lit into another one with a short range laser. Within minutes, we stood amid what looked like a massacre. Hundreds of guysack parts lay strewn around, at least 60 field zoids had to have been defeated here.

The Liger turned towards me. "Damn... did you cut down those guysacks that where laying there before we showed up?" I actually took stock, and the kill counter that had lit up in the upper corner of my view confirmed that, yes, I had downed at least half of the zoids laying around my zoid's feet. "It... looks like it..." The guy was obviously talking with his sister, although over the heavy metal I couldnt hear what they where saying. After a while she said something, and he nodded. "Hey, pal do have a transport around here somewhere?" I looked up. "Transport?" he looked at me likeI had just asked him for a fresh char-broield lobster. "Yeah, you know...? How did you get out here if you didn't have a transport?" "I walked." His jaw dropped, and his sister laughed. "Dude..." he checked his map. "The nearest town is this little speck of dust called... um... Belaqua or something, and that's hundreds of miles away." HUH? My mind did a little flip. I had left a 7:30, no way I could get over hundreds of miles in a Zaber in just a few hors, right? "Hundreds? Wha? That's where I'm coming form, that was only..." I Checked the clock. 3:30 am. "Oh... Uh... eight hours ago..." The sister lauged again. "Your zoid must be exausted. We have our sledge and Gustav nearby, we can take you with us, if you want..." My eyes where about to drop out of my head from exhaustion, and I didn't want to risk any more field zoids. "If you're sure it's ok..." The liger was already moving ahead. "No sweat. Come on, I want to het back on the road." The sister smiled as she accelertaed her Fox to catch up with her brother. "I'm sorry, we haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Jenny Rayne." Her brother spoke up. "I'm Edgar Rayne, call me Eddy." I nodded. "Nice to meet you both, I'm Garrett Hart."

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Well, there you go, the first chapter. PLEASE R&R, it is my first fic, please enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, hopefully this chapter will be an improvement on the last, and please R&R. I do not own zoids, but I do own all origional characters. (Garrett, jenny, Eddie/Edgar, and a few other nameless chars.)**

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The inside of the Gustav surprised me. Most of the standard issue Gusavs are mostly engine with a cockpit attached, but the Rayne family's was different, in ran on a smaller engine so the internal shell could be hollowed out. It had five rooms, not including the cockpit. Three had been converted into bedrooms, one was a restroom, and one was a surrogate kitchen. While all of these where incredibly cramped, I gotta tell you, the spare bed felt like heaven as compared to the stiff command chair in my Proto Zaber. I woke up the next morning, and the intial shock of not being back in Belaqua hit me like a ton of bricks, and it took me a minute to recover my wits and remember where I was. I vaugely remembered setting my wounded Zaber ponto the sledge, and being shown the spare room. After that, I was drawing a blank.

I got up, stretched, and changed my sweat-drenced clothes. I thought back to the guysacks last night as I retied my headband... My first battle had almost seen my zoid totalled. I remembered the wierd, inscetile cries, and an involuntary shiver went down my spine. I came to the door, and, beng far more accustomed to traditional doors- you know, the kind with a handle? It took me almost three minutes to figure out wich button would open the metal plate in front of me. After it grudgingly ground open, I was greeted with a short, undecorated hallway. At my far right was a big double door, I guessed it went to the cockpit, mainly because of the heavy metal blaring through it. Not wanting to have to guess with the other doors, I stepped out in that direction.

As the plate doors slid open (after a couple of seconds of random button pressing) a blast of gitaur and drums greeted me, as did a bright midday sun. Edgar leaned over from the command chair. "Hey! He's finally up! How's it going, uh..." "Garrett." I shouted over the music. "Yea, that's right." He noticed that I has covering my ears. "Oop, Sorry. One sec." The music receded, leaving my brain a shambled mess of gitaur riffs, unintelligible lyrics, and heavy drum solos. "Hey, have a seat, but watch for Marcia." I stepped forward. "Mar-" A heavy clunk came from my feet, and Eddie held his temples in aggrivation. "Marcia. Why do people never listen when I tell them to watch their step...?" I looked down at the injured Bass Gitaur sitting at my feet. It had been dented more than once. "Sorry! I didn't mean to kick your gitaur!" He waved it off. "Doesn't matter. She's taken plenty of damage, what's another dent gonna do?" I carefuly made my way to the copilot's seat, and after moving some fast food wrappers, I sat down.

He turned his gaze from the desert road ahead of us to me again. "So Garrett. That was one hell of a fight last night. What are you doing all the way in the middle of field zoid territory anyway? Those little buggers attack anything that gets in their turf." I scratched the back of my head. "Honestly, I had no idea that there where any Field Zoids left. I thought the ZBC wiped them out." Eddie laughed. "Not a chance. They killed most of the surface dwellers, but you can bet that the oceans are full of fielders, and every undiscovered Zoidian Ruin has a leigon to it's name..." I sat back and looked forward at the road. The desterts of Zi where all very similar. Big, open expanses of sand and grit. About noon, the radar pinged, and on the very edge, a large group of structures appeared. Eddie roled his neck. "Ahh, Crane city. It's small, but compared to Ilian Town, it looks like a metropolis..." The door behind us slid open and Jenny walked through, wearing a light green T-Shirt and shorts. "Hey sis, you're up early, it's not even three yet." She punched him in the arm. "Ha, ha Eddie. Oh, Hi Garrett." She had just noticed me taking up the copilot's seat. "Hey." (I'll admit it now, I'm really bad at talking with girls, always have been.) She smiled, then yawned and streched. "You guys must be hungry. I'll go get something..." Eddie slowed teh Gustav. "Nah, it's ok sis. You drive for a while, I need to rest my eyes. Ill get you guys something. And besides-"He grinned at me. "Don't want sis to kill you with her cooking before we even reach town." He then scampered out the door, dodging the wrench that Jenny threw at him. She sighed as the door closed behind him. "Sorry about that." I just grinned. "No problem, no problem."

We sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, until she brought up the question. "So, why are you going to crane city?" I told her pretty much what was my life story in right around twenty minutes. As I finished, she stopped the Gustav looked at me with big eyes, and gave me a hug. "Oh my god... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to pry, that's horrible!" This hit me with a bit of a shock. I mean, yeah, I've lost a few people I love, but everyone does eventually, right? It's not that bad, is it? "It's okay, I really don't mind..." But she persisted with hugging me. The door slid open, and Eddie walked through, carying a plate of sandwiches. "Woah, sorry,didn't know you two where making out up here." This time, he did not dodge the wrench.

After a few minutes of unconsiousness, he came back around, and we coninued onward. It would be a few more hours before we reached town, so Eddie set the Gustav in cruise control, and we moved as a group to the kitchen. I related my story again to Eddie, and then asked why they where heading for Crane City. This brought a heavy silence on the room. "Uh, did I say something wrong..?" Eddie only shook his head, and Jenny looked up at me. "No... Just some bad memories. We're heading to the city to get ourselves into a team... Again..." I, being an idiot, pressed the point. "Again? You where on a team before this?" Jenny looked away, and Eddie spoke. "Yes... Although I wonder if a team will take us after..." "The incedent..." Jenny finished ofr him. "Incident? What?" But I sensed that I was treading closer to getting kicked off the Gustav, so I backed down. "I'm sorry. You guys obviously don't want to talk about it." Eddie looked up. "No, you told us your story, we'll tell you ours." "We used to be members of the Gamma Breaker Team. We where class A. Well, one battle, we where battle jacked by the backdraft group. They cut our team all but to peices. And they where going to take our zoids..." Eddie picked up after where Jennny stopped and sobbed. "Or leader, a pilot named Ray, told us to run. But the BD captain, he pointed his Zoid's weapons at Ray's cockpit nad told us if we fan, he would fire. We... we ran... And he... he launched everything his zoid had..." Jenny took off the ruby ring she had on her finger. "He gave this to me on my 16th birthday. I'm nineteen now. We where on that team for quite a while." I was stunned. "But it's not your fault! Why wouldn't another team take you on?" Eddie shook his head. "The match was telivised, and broadcast on a pirate channel. Backdraft editied the voices. They made it seem like we abandoned Ray, out of selfish fear for ourselves... And I know why backdraft would do that, too." I was all on, attention-wise. "Why?" Jenny fixed me with her peircing, big green eyes. "Our family, the Raynes, have been zoid pilots for generations, and we have wiped out more than one Backdraft base, and destroyed many, many Backdraft zoids. You could call it a long standing grudge." I nodded. :"So they painted you as cowards." Eddie nodded and took off his sunglases, revealing eyes much like his sister's. "That's about it..." he checked his watch and brigtened up. "But no time for worrying now. We're almost in town. Come on, let's get ready."

Thirty minutes later, we here pulling up a long cement pathway into a garage on the outskirts of Crane. As Eddie flashed his ID to the guard and went to go park the Gustav, I got out and just walked among the isles of Zoids. I was awestruck. Save for a few old tapes of battles, most of my knowlege of Zoids came from Grandpa. I wandered back and forth throuought the Warehouse, marveling at the sheer number of zoids. I could only name a few, while most evaded my knowlege completely. There where so many... As I wnadered the isles, I realized why I was hooked on these giant machines. They where shher works of art. In that first hour of just wandering, I saw everything from an insanely modified Molga to a spin-off Elephander. Jenny found me marveling at a brand new Blade Liger, painted A Beautiful dark Green. She handed me a keycard. "Take that. It's a card to get onto the Gustav." I was still staring at teh blade liger, and then what she said connected in my mind. "Huh? Oh, oh no, I couldn't impose on you or your brother any more that I have already." She smiled and giggled. "You don't have a place to stay, right? Eddie has a motel room booked, we're fine. Besides, all your stuff is still on the Gustav." True... "You're sure?" She winked at me as she began heading back the way she came. "Positive. see you tomorrow, Garrett." And she left me in the middle of the isle, pilots bustling past the out of place rookie.

As I hade my way back to the Gustav, i caught sight of the ZBC terminal, and made a note to get there later. As I got back, Eddie was welding a loose plate on his Desert Liger. "Oy! Garrett! Get up here, you lucky punk! Just because Jenny managed to talk me into letting you use our spare room, it does't mean you can loaf around! Come on, this baby isn't gonna fix herself. After we fix my Liger, We'll relod sis's Fox, and then we'll see what we can do for your Zaber, huh?" I rolled my shoulders. "Ok, one moment..." Several minutes later, I was working on his Liger. Let me tell you, that thing was as old as the dirt clogged in it's gears. As I poked my head out of the cenetr torso casing, I called up. "Geez, Ed. You could at least clean this thing out. Heck, you'd be doing it a favor by retiring it..." Almost instantly he was in front of me, his eyes ablaze. "Can it, grease monkey. This liger's been in the family since my grandpa's days. You suggest retiring her one more time, and you'll be looking fro lodgin elsewhere, kapeesh?" I shrunk back. "Sorry...Sorry..." He laughed. "Just givin you a hard time. You could learn to deal with humor a bit better. Just treat her carefully, ok?" he whacked me on the back, and climed back up to where he was fixing the tarheting on the torso's missle pack. I grinned, grimaced, and then spat the motor oil invadng my open mouth out onto the cement below.

It was nightime by the time I even got to my Proto Zaber. Eddie looked beat. "In the name of the deathsaurer, what are you possesed?" He gaped as I climbed up my Zoid'slegs to get at the laser scars. "That cracks it. I'll be back in a while, there's a pub here, I'm gonna grab some well erned drink and then sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, I'll help you then." He shambled off, wiping the motor oil off of his hands and onto his jeans. I however, worked truly like a man posessed. I checked my watch as I sealed the wound in my Zaber's back, and it was 12:30. I considered quitting right there, but an image of how truly grand the Zaber had appeared when I first opened the garage flashed through my mind, and I knew I couldn't quit until my noble metal steed had been restored. I worked almost nonstop. The next morning...

Something nudged me in my sleep. "Oh, Gaaaarrrrreeeeettttt..." Jenny's voice. "MMMph, 'sonly five more minutes..." "I'll wake him up..." It was Eddie. "Huh...? Ed-" WHACLANK! The wrench hit me square in the forehead. "FREAKING OW!" I shot strait up, and danced around in pain until my vision cleared. Eddie and Jenny where looking at me strangely. "Firstly, what where you doing in the cockpit of MY zoid?" Eddie asked. My world slowly became less painful and more lucent. "Making a few slight modifications. If you want to get someone to pick you up for a team, you can't be driving an old clunker like that one." A vein in his forehead flared. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Jenny held him back. "Relax Eddie. Secondly, Garrett, what happened to your zoid? You couldn't have fixed it up in one night...?" I looked up and grinned. "Oh, my Proto Zaber? I just gave it a little tune up, that's all." Eddie had relaxed, and motioned at my zoid. "You call that a "Little" tune up? It looks like it just came out of the factory!" Indeed it did, although I knew it was mostly just a new coat of paint and some reinforced plates. But what was the real attention grabber was the insignia- a Roman numeral 5 in crimson with the old Guygalos Empire sword in silver peircing through it.

"Heh, you're crazy, man." Eddie shook his head. "Get a shower, you stink to wake the dead. After that we'll talk about what in the name of Hades you did to my zoid." I was more than happy to oblige. One hot shower and change of T-shirt and Jeans later... It took me a few minutes to explain what I had done. "I fixed up the targeting, I noticed it lagged. Your armor is reinforced again, and I managed to get the shield working again, although I don't really know how, you had enough sand dirt and bugs to choke an Elephander in there-" "Wait...YOU GOT MY SHIELD RUNNING?" "Yes. I also-" "**HE GOT MY SHIELD RUNNING!**" "And I re-wired your speakers, You now have surround sound, and they blast at least 8 times louder than they used to." Ediie became very quiet. " I..." He never finished, he just jumped into the cockpit and his old liger came to life with a (literal) roar, grabbing the attention of anyone in the hangar, almost as much as the Heavy Metal that began shaking the cement a few seconds later. Jenny steeped up next to me as the old Liger's signiature shield activated, and I heard Eddie Whoop with joy, even over his deafening metal. "I've never seen him so happy, thank you... Garrett." I turned and smiled. "But we're not done yet..." Her jaw dropped. "You... didn't..." "Oh yes, I did." We walked over to her Dark Red Scout Fox. I pointed to a small blister on it's left torso. "It had an older N77X BLADE Radar dome, but with a bit of work, I increased the range 40-50 percent. And your Chain Gun..." I clicked a button on the cable contol that I temporarily plugged in for maintenance reasons. The turrett spun 360 Degrees. "You can now fire in any direction, and I moved the tail camera and mounted it on the gun. See, aim and shoot." Jenny had said nothing. She just stared at her Fox. Then she turned, gave me a huge hug that I'm sure almost broke my spine, and tore into the cockpit almost faster than I could track with my tired eyes.

I Grinned, although waves of exaustion pulsed through me. I really did love working on zoids, even if I had only been in the cockpit of one four or five times. I whipped the ZBC disc from my pocket, and glanced over to the ZBC teminal. "Ok, Garrett. Let's go... Right after a quick nap..."

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Hey, hope you're enjoying the series as yet. PLEASE R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Everybody, Welcome to Chapter 3 of this little saga. As the time of me writing this, I have no reveiws- Please, PLEASE Reveiw, I'm in need of feedback. Anyway, I'm fighting the continuous war on Typos, so please bear with me. A little more character development here, don't worry, I'll get some battles going after the team gets formed. They will soon-This chapter, in fact. Oh. And I don't own zoids, although I do own my unique characters, and teh Cup o' Noodles reference is to a fic I may post here later... Short Blitz team cameo, I needed filler, okay? Geez...**

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I woke up on the bed in the Gustav, and glanced at my watch.6 PM. I rolled overonto my back, and looked at the steel celing before getting up. As I stepped out into the hall, I Became aware of a howling noise. As I stepped out of the Gustav, it became much more familliar. The sandstorm had finally hit, and was whirling around the hangar in a maddening dervish. The maind doors where being closed behind a large Double Sworder zoid that was so covered with sand that the only indication of it's color where it's titular blades/pincers. As It stomped off out of my field of view, I heard Jenny call from somewhere- "Hey Garrett! Yeah! Up here!" I looke around until I saw her perched up on her Scout Fox. I clambered up the huge metal canine, and sat down next to her. "Quite the veiw, huh?" she asked, and as I turned around, I had to agree. Even though Scot Foxes wher far from the hugest zoids, I could see att throuought the garage, and it was a lot larger than I had origionally thought, it had to be at least eighteen acers. Zoids rested, moved, roared and where repaired throuought. I remembered what Grandpa had said about zoids being alive. Staring out over the garage, it was easy to see it more as a zoo with normal animals rather than a garage with machines several meters high.

"But why the large hangar? Your bother said that Crane was a pretty small city. Speaking of Eddie, hwre is he?" I had just noiced the abscence of metal pumping through the surrounding area. "Eddie? He's down at the ZBC terminal, looking for teams. As for the Garage, most of the ZBC battles take place in the deserts around here, it's a focal point for pilots in the lower classes." Another howl, it sounded like the wind was getting even worse outside. I looked around and spotted the ZBC terminal, dwarfed by a ZBC-Logo-inscribed Genosaurer. I could tell, even from where I was sitting, that it was a mass produced Geno, not as good as the real thing, but capable of putting most zoids out of a fight quickly. As the ZBC Geno powered up, I rememberd that I needed to get myself registered. "I'll be right back, Jenny. Can I get you anything?" "Yeah," She replied jokingly. "A team."

I hopped down (not in one jump, obviously) from the scout fox, and worked my way through the crowds of techs, pilots and zoids in the hangar until I reached the terminal. A blonde attendant with a seemingly frozen-in-place smile and a tight ZBC uniform greeted me. "Yes? How may I help you sir?" Resisting the temtation to make a fool of myself, and forcing my eyes on her face, I responded. "Yes, I'd like to register myself in the ZBC." She smiled, if it was possible for her to do it any more so than she already was. "Certainly. Name please?" I'll spare you the thirty minutes it took to register, and another twenty of filling out forms, and trying to avoid oggling. She handed me a spiffy new ID card, (How they got the ID picture, I'll never know), another ID for my zoid, Zoid core data and all, a complimentary official ZBC Wallet and ZBC cuff links. Why they gave me cuff links? I dunno. I dont even own a jacket or suit to put them on. I came back to the Gustav to see a small group staring at my Zaber. Some random guy was on the legs of my big metal cat, and I arrived in the middle of his rant.

"These legs are incredible! It would take a direct hit from a blade liger to even begin to damage them! And look at that cockpit! Ferrocious! Primal! This is without a doubt an origional Proto Zaber! I want one, too!" The guy was farely pale, like he spent most of his time indoors. He had a somewhat rediculous haircut, but then again, who am I to judge people? I rarely even comb my hair as it is... A Redhaed was standing at the base of my Zaber as well, as was a taller guy with long brown hair and a muscular build. The redhead was talking to the guy on my Zaber. "Come ON dad... The pilot will be back any minute, besides Jamie says the Hover cargo's ready..." A vein pulsed in her forehead "COME ON, GET OF THE DAMN ZOID!" "And look at that three barreled cannon- Simple, but effective!" "**_DAD!_**" The taller guy with the long hair shrugged and turned around. He saw me, and walked over. "That your zoid?" "Um...Yeah. That your crazy guy?" He laughed at that one. "Good one. Yeah, don't mind the Doc, he's on the wierd side, but he's good with zoids." A loud crack came from the diretion of my zoid, the redhead had dropped the "Doc" with a well timed punch. "Ok, Brad, time to earn your keep. You carry him." The long haired guy sighed. "I HATE my job... Sorry about the trouble." I shook my head. "No sweat... Err, he didn't touch anything, did he?" "Brad" shook his head in turn. "Just the legs. I don't think he could have climbed your zoid if he tried, anyway." The redhaed was getting impatient. "Come ON Brad, before he wakes back up!" He sighed again, and went to go carry the "Doc". I got the distinct impression that the redhead was not one to cross, and I shivered at the prospect of her in a zoid, whatever she piloted, it would be big on overkill.

As I walked to the door of the Gustav, I noticed it had a small note attached to it. "Hey Garrett, we've decided to brave the sandstorm and head over to my appartment. Jenny says there is some good food somewhere in the fridge, just pick past the stuff you know you won't be able to eat. Like Sis's cooking." There was a red spot that looked suspiciously like a injury-induced nosebleed, and then the handwriting changed. Jenny must have picked up from where her brother left off. "Anyways, we also have a TV in the front of the gustav, I think the ZBC's putting on the week's highlights, you might wnat to take a look. We'll be back in the morning, Jenny and Eddie"

I walked into the snail zoid, quested the kitchen, and then immersed myself in the higlits of the week. The TV in the gustav was a hundred times better than the one back home, It had color, got more than 4 channels, and was, get this, IN COLOR! (Yeah, I know, color TV, big whoop. But I had been living in Belaqua, for pete's sake, give me some credit...)

The next morning, Jenny walked into the cokpit of the gustav and found me out cold , surrounded by empty Cup 'o Noodles (tm), and the TV was playing a slow motion shot of a Classic Lightning saix cutting a Gojulas down. The announcer was ranting about how that's just what you should expect from team Lightning, skill and effecientcy, and, of course, speed. Especially from famed pilot Jack Cisco. She turned it off, and I snapped awake. "Hey! I was watching that!" She gave me a sarchastic look. "Suuure you where. There's a guy out by your Zaber, says he's looking for you." I groaned. "Is it some crazy guy? With a wierd Haircut?" She gave me an odd look. "No, he's a ZBC pilot, I think he owns the Geno parked by the terminal." I stood up, and patted my hair down. As i stepped out of the Gustav, I noted the storm hadn't died down yet. Long sandstorm, probably would play havoch with any Radar. And it would ground flyers of all stripes, as well. There was the guy, decked out in oficial ZBC flight armor, not the street clothes of civilian pilots. He looked like a soldier, right down to his buzz cut. He was staring up at my Zaber, a look of awe, respect and... something i couldn't place on his face. Was it Reminicence?

He noticed me walking up and turned to me. A broad shouldered man, very stong in the jawline which was addorned with a blonde/brown soul patch. He spoke first. "You're Garrett, Right?" I nodded, and he smiled almost as broadly as his shoulders. "Second Lutennnant James Ryson" he gave me a strong handshake, and I could almost feel the bones fracture in my hand. Then his demanor became one of buisness. "There are things we need to talk about, but not here. There's a bar here, we'll talk there instead of standing out here." I followed him to the bar, the "Crane's Jewel" and stepped inside. A couple of TVs poured out the most recent battles, one of them playing live- The Flugel team versus the Chaos Edge Team. The 'Edges where being diced to peices. The Second Lutenant led me to the very far edge of the bar, and then faced me directly. "Let me begin by saying that I knew your father, and that he was a great man." I did a double take, although, in retrospect, this wasn't too surpriseing, I guess. I nodded mutely. "I actually piloted with him, back when he was in the leauges. I remember that Zaber like I was fighting alongside it yesterday. Damn beautiful machine as I ever saw. I always prefered 'saurs, but he could rip it up like no-ones buisness..." We chatted for fifteen minutes about "The glory days", if you will, and then het told me how he'd followed dad into the ZBC enforcement companies. A few more minutes of that, and then I had to ask. "Lutenant.." "Call me james" "Ok, James... You knew my fatehr, but why did you track me down?" He laughed. "I guess I've been sidetracking myslef... Garrett." He set his gaze straght on me. "Your father entrusted me with something, right before he took... his last mission.." A shadow passed over James's eyes as he remembered. then he dug into his pcoket, and handed me a pristine letter. "He told me to give it to you when you "Came of Age"... And I think your Zaber symbolizes that better than anything else..." His watch comm buzzed suddenly, and he looked at it. "Aw, crap... Garrett, i gotta go, but I'll be back. Keep isnide, that sandstorm is something fierce." He stoo up, and strode out the door.

I hadn't opened the letter by the time I got back to the Gustav, but it was quickly driven from my mind when Jenny ran up to me, tears in her eyes. "GARRETT! BRO'S GONE! THEY-THEY MIGHT HAVE HURT HIM!" _WHAT? _My mind spun. "Jenny, JENNY! Calm DOWN!" I had never seen her liek this, I didn't even think she could break down like this. "What happened?" "These...These members of a team Eddie tried to get us signed on to showed up here, personally rejected us, and tehn called Eddie a balless coward in a tin can zoid. He- he punched one of them out, and he challeneged their leader one-on-one! But I'm sure they where drunk... And He's been gone for HOURS!" I grabbed her by the shoulders. "I'll go look for him, where did he cahllenge them?" "O-Out near blood peak." "Sit tight, I'll be right back." "No." She said flatly. "I'm coming with you."

Fifteen minutes later, we where out in the middle of the worst sandstorm I had ever seen, heading for Blood Peak. We had been truging hrough the shifting sands for an hour when Jenny suddenly shouted over the comm. "I've got something! It's His Liger!" She accelerated her Fox and bounded over the sands, and I followed suit, albeit slower than she was going. And then we could see it. Laying on it's side, oil and elctricity fluctuating and pouring out of it like a gutted beast, was Eddie's Liger, Marcia. A faint channel blinked on. "Jenny! Garrett! Get back! I-GHAYSGTSGSFZZZ" "Eddie! What? What are you saying? The channnel's weak-like it's being..." _Jammed..._ That voice in the back of my mind again! Then, as if on que, My communications screen died and the channel fell appart. My radar flickered and died. And then they where right on top of us. Two Hel Digunners, a Hevily modified Sand Zpyder and a Warshark popped out of the sands and bellowed their challeneges. They where on is in a second, and I heard the vouce of the enemy captain, apparently unjammed. "So, you're his buddies, huh? Well, none of you will live after the Sand Devils Finish with you!" Jenny ran in front of her brother's liger and unloaded on the Sand Zpyder, but the arachnid Zod burrowed underground, and her bullets where lost in the sandstorm's dervish, which had seemingly increased in strength. I pounced on a Digunner, and it disareaed from under my paws, and the rest of the team followed suit. Soon, we where apparently alone, but my senses told me otherwise. Suddely a digunner turret popped out from the sands and unloaded a torrent of bullets into my Zoid. But the patchetic submachinegun shells just bounced off. "Thank god for all-nighters" I said quietly to myself. The Little Gecko Zoid tried to escape again, but I somehow managed to get my Zaber's fangs sunk into it's neck. I pulled it bodily out of the sands and shook it until It suufered enough internal damage to shut down. I threw it into the surfacing Zpyder, breaking the fragile joints in the spyder Zoid's legs, and sending it into shutdown. I saw the pilot paniking as this canopy gass cracked under the weight of his comerade's Digunner. But, miraculusly, the glass held.

Jenny was having a shootout with the other Digunner, trading rounds, doging fire, and shooting again. The sneaky lizard ppped up behind her, not expecting the turret to sight it... But after last night's modifications.. well... The Digunner flooped down, a hail of bulletts digging into it's armor. Jenny's chaingun reset to defaut condition, and we looked left and right for the last zoid.. the leader's Warshark. Jenny turned, and as she looked to the left, the blasted fish made it's move. Grabbing the Fox's weak back legs in it's razor teeth, and started draging it under. He was out to kill her! There was no seperate oxygen for her cockpit, she would suffocate! I was too afr away and I knew it. But I launched into full run, regaurdless. I watched in terror as the Wrashark's head almost dissapaer under the sands... And then I saw a golden-brown blur to my right. The Desert Liger launched itself at the fish zoid, and clamped it's head in the signature liger fangs. The commchannel opened suddenly, and the enemy was screaming bloddy murder as Eddie closed the liger's jaw ever tigter. The Warsahrk's head began to collapse. "AAAAAAHHHH! NO! DON'T KILL MEEE! I SURRENDER!" I heard Eddie's voice, a cold, sharp edge to it. "You almost killed my SISTER, and you beg for mercy? Give me one good reason not to beak your zoid in half and crush you into paste." Jeny was on the comm. "Eddie STOP! Don't...Don't kill him..."

Our zoids stood out there in the sands, the sandstorm still going at full fury. Then, suddenly, a hulking shape bashed though the clouds of sand. 2nd Lt. Ryson's Genosaurer, flanked by two smaller Aurosaurers. He popped up on the open channel. "Put the zoid down, Mr. Rayne." Eddie reluctantly complied, and I could feel his zoid was just as , if not more, reluctant to do so than he was. "Thank you. We saw the whole thing, I'm sorry we didn't get here earlier." His little holographic image winked, I assume at me. "Incredible shooting out there kid, you're your father's son alright." "But why are you here, Lt.?" Ryson laughed. "These pilots spend their spare time as a bandit gang, apparently. I was posted here to round them up. Unfortunately, I don't get the bounty for cleaning their clocks- that goes to you guy's team." "Huh?" We three where shocked. He thought we where an official team! "Something wrong?" "No, not at all." I said, and got incredulous looks form the other two. "Good, You all look pretty banged up. I'll call in a transport, if You don't mind sitting tight for a sec.." he didn't notice we weren't listening. After a quick confrence amongst ourselves, I spoke up. "Hey, Lt..." "Yeah, Garrett?"

"Can you make sure the check is out to... Team Sandstorm?"

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Woo yeah! They have a name! And a team! Read on in the next cahpter for the coninuing saga of Team Sandstorm!

**And please R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok, as usual, you all know that I own nothing of zoids, but I do own my origional Characters. **

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Two weeks. Two weeks since our fiasco with the so-called "Sand Devils" in the snadstorm that inspired our name. Two weeks of Reparing Marcia with Eddie. Two weeks sleeping in the Gustav's spare bed. And two weeks of filling out ZBC paperwork, wich was quickly becoming my eternal nemisis. One was more a survery really, asking me my favorite food, if my hair was in it's natural color, and if I could translate a quote from latin. WHAT DOES LATIN HAVE TO DO WITH PILOTING A ZOID! Well, It all led up to this moment-our first battle as a team in the ZBC. We got to the area early, and had time to take stock of the battlefield. As with all Class-C battles, this one was out in the middle of the desert. You know, I never quite figured out why they always post the lower classes out in the desert. Less chance of newbie pilots killing themselves by smashing into a building, I guess...

I sat in the Zaber's cockpit, the AC on full blast. That's what I spent a large potion on my cut of the reward from the Sand Devils on. From grandpa's stories, I could tell we'd be out here in the desert battles for some time to come. The rest of the award went into my account- wait, let me explain this first. It was after the Sand Devils battle, I had finally opened dad's letter. it wasnt much, I have it on hand, so I'll write down what it saud.

"Garrett. I'm going on a dangerous mission- the ZBC has had unconfirmed reports of the location of the Backdraft Group's main base. They're sending my company to investigate. While I'm writing this, your tearing around outside, playing with your zoid figures. You are your mothers son, that's for sure. You wouldn't understand this right now, I'll leave it with a good friend of mine- Private James Rayson. You can trust him Garrett. When you recieve this, I can only hope you've already become a pilot. Garrett, I may not survive this. I can sense.. something, I'm not sure what. But I know the zoids feel it, too. But, if this is just harmless paranoia, this letter may never be needed.

Much love, your father, Jack Hart.

(PS, I've opened an account for you just to be sure. It has about 3000 credits, use them well.)"

It shed more light on how dad had died, and I still have it tucked in my wallet. I really miss him, heck, I miss all of my family... I shook my head and returned to the present as a white capsule burst into the ground and out came.. the Judge. This was the first time I had seen one, and I was transfixed. He began in a mechanical voice: "Battle mode A779. 3 vs. 3 team battle. The red team: Team... Sandstorm! The blue Team: the Ligtning Hussars Team! A battered,early model hover cargo had pulled up while I had been thinking of my family. It launced 3 zoids- all small class zoids. A Revolver Tiger, a black Helcat, and a Hammer Rock. We looked like titans compared to them, two large class zoids (my Zaber and the Liger) and a medium (The scout fox). The judge raised his arms, and then let them drop. "FIGHT!"

Eddie launched his liger forward, and theopposing team scattered. At first it looked like they where running away... And then a blast from the Revolver Tiger smashed into my zoid's left torso, and the fight was on. The comm channel opened on our frequency. Eddie was in his combat stance, nameley a vein twitching in his forehead as metal pumped through his speakers. Jenny was in serious concentration, and I could see why. Since she was in the fastest of our zoids, she was trying to track down the fastest enemy- The Helcat. It was the classic dog chasing cat scenario- The fox would get close, and the Helcat would put on another burst of speed, cutting away as fast as it could, taking pot shots with it's single, small turrett. The pilot was accurate- even with the small cannon, Jenny's center torso armor was starting to show signs of collapsing.

Eddie was having just as much luck with the hammer rock. The miniature Kong zoid just kept out of his liger's reach, barraging it with machine gun, misslie and laser fire. Eddie popped open his covered machine guns- a recent addition- and unloaded a torrent on the little gorilla, following it up with a barrage of short range misles. The Hammer Rock diisapeared in a cloud of explosions, and I saw Eddie mout "Take that, ya bastitch!" over the commline (remember, I have him muted, for the sake of my ears) But, out of the clouds came the Rock, it's front armor little more than a memory. It jumped, and before Eddie could react, smashed it'ts fist into the side of the Liger's head. And it doesn't matter if you outweigh it, when a Kong Zoid hits you, it hits HARD. Eddie's zoid spiraled onto it's side, and he was cursing so loudly, I swear I could hear it in my zoid, almost half a kilometer away, cahsing the blasted revolver tiger across the sands. And that little cat could RUN. I Had been chasing after it after it had broadsided me, and had been running ever since. However, since it's turrets where all forward-facing, all I had to do was hit it. And that was about as easy as driving a Saix at 200 mph... With your toes. This continued on for three hours...

It was 11:30, almost six hours after the battle, when our battle got itself a little clip on ZBCBC (Zoids Battle Commission Broadcasting Chanel). We hwre sitting in the bar at the garage, spending some of our hard earned cash. Eddie was drunk out of his skull, and was passed out on the bar, a "Helfire Special" stil in his hand. I'm not sure what was in that hellish concoction, but I was three stools away and I could smell it like I had my nose in it. Jenny was only slightly beter than her brother, resting her head on her ahnds, staring at the blaring TV screen and mumbling in Haiku about Cats and Foxes. I, for one, was not drunk. I usually tried to avoid alchohol- I got drunk once in high school, and woke up in a bed with three girls. No idea how it happened. Not neccicarly a bad experience, i guess, aside from them never talking to me again. But what can you do? So I sat there, taking occasional shots of water. Jenny laughed giddly, and I looked up at the screen. it showed our killing strikes on the three Hussars- How jenny ran the Helcat until it tripped, and surrenderd before she could shoot it to peices. The Hammer Rock was clawed viciously by the liger after it tried another punch and Eddie activated the shield. And then it showed me pulling off a lucky shot with my cannon, and taking the Tiger's leg clean off, and then my Zaber riping into the smaller zoid like a cat attacking a fish. I should give Saix piloting a shot...

The bartender tapped me on the shoulder, sensing taht I was the only sober one of my group, and told me it was closing time. Then he asked me if I wanted help hauling Eddie back to the Gustav. Fifteen minutes later, As I said goodnight to the bartender and opened the Gustav's door, I realised I had no idea who'se room was whose.Setting the giggling Jenny down in the hal, I dragged eddie to the first available door. It was dark, so Ijust dropped him inside, mades ure he hadn't broken anything when he fell, and closed the door behind me. I helped Jeny to her feet, or rather had to pick her up, and went to what door seemed the most likeley, I.E, the next door down the hall. It was hers, thankfully, and I walked over to her bed. She giggled again as I set her down on her bed. I looked around at the decor as best I could in the dark. A few posters, or at least dark spots on the walls, a desk, and..well... that was about it. As I turned to leave, she spoke up. "G'nighty, Gawwet..." I hadn't noticed, but she spoke with a childish wisp, i mean lisp, when she was drunk. "Goodnight jenny." "Awww, don't go. C'mere..." Now, this was what was going though my mind. For your sake, I'll divide it into the two voices arguing over my morality. Good and Evil, if you will. Yes, let's go with that.

**Good Side**: She's drunk Garrett, just back out the door.

**Evil Side**: No, come on man, Drunk Girls are FUN!

**Good Side**: We don't ned highschool repeating itself here.

**Evil Side**: You know... I bet you'll regeret this if you don't.

**Good Side**: You'll regret it more when she nails you with that wrench tomorow morning.

**Evil**: Pansy.

**Good**: Anarchist

**Evil**: Boyscout

**Good**: Lecher

**Evil**: OOOH, I'm so afraid of your big words. Seriosuly, I'm gonna break out in tears, **_NOT_**. Come get some, lightweight. I'll knock you out with one hand.

**Good**: FIGHT you? Why would I waste my- **WHAM** Ok, you psycho, you asked for this!

As the two sides of my concious came to blows, I heard Jenny softly snoring, and quiely excused myself from the room. The next morning, I woke up, did my usual stretches, and then moved on to the kitchen. Edie was in there, drinking the classic ant-hangover. He raised his glass of eggyolks in greeting and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Morni'n Garrett.Hey, you have any Idea why I woke up in the middle of the bathroom floor?" ...Oops... "Um... No." He rolled his neck and swallowed another gulp of egg. "Ugh, If it came down to getting the origional Deathsaurer or killing this headache, It'd be a close one... Hand me the pepper, will you?" SOmehow, he caught the flyng pepper shaker, unscrewd teh lid, and poured half of it into the egg youlks. He shook the glass a little, and then gulped teh entire mix down. Noting my disgusted expression he laughed and said. "What? Me and my buddies used to do this all the time back in college."

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Sorry for the short chapter, but i was busy today. More later.

_**R&R please!**_


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